Senior Project Manager

About Gulf Winds

Gulf Winds Credit Union offers innovative financial tools that give our members freedom to live life with their finances under control. Since our founding in 1954, we have grown from a single branch in Pensacola, Florida, to a regional institution with over $1 billion in assets and 83,000 members across Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. From daily banking needs to investment services, our members aren’t treated like an account number, but as part of the family.

Our Values

We are guided by our core values of Integrity, Care, Growth, and Innovation and are dedicated to our members, our community and each other.

Integrity 

We own our decisions and actions by doing the right thing, learning from our mistakes, and taking responsibility.

Care

We help members meet their goals by listening to understand and offering the best solutions, placing kindness above all else.

Growth

We set ambitious goals, provide personal development opportunities, and encourage results.

Innovation

We challenge the status quo to enhance the member’s experience and solve tomorrow’s challenges today.

Working at Gulf Winds

Working at Gulf Winds is not just a job, it’s a career. We’re hiring collaborative, motivated people who want to love what they do. We are forward-thinking and family oriented. We recognize and reward excellent member service and have fun while working hard. When you join the team, you can expect:

    · Open and transparent communication with your leaders

    · Consistent coaching and opportunities to improve performance.

    · Collaborative and team-focused environments

    · Short and long-term professional development

    · Opportunity to participate in cross-functional projects.

With you on our team we can achieve our vision of becoming the leading and most trusted credit union on the Gulf Coast.

Gulf Winds is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Drug Free Workplace

Role:

The Senior Project Manager is responsible for leading, planning, organizing, and executing complex, multi'departmental, and enterprise'wide initiatives with significant technical integration and organizational impact. Operating with a high degree of independence, this role establishes the delivery strategy, drives project execution through all phases of the lifecycle (initiation, planning, execution, control, and closure), and ensures solutions meet business, technical, regulatory, and quality requirements. The Senior Project Manager proactively identifies risks and interdependencies, facilitates cross'functional collaboration, provides executive'level communication, and ensures the successful transition of solutions into operational readiness. This role also mentors project managers and analysts, contributes to continuous improvement of project management practices, and partners with leadership to ensure alignment with enterprise strategy.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities:

30%    Leads the full project lifecycle for large, complex, or enterprise wide initiatives involving multiple departments, systems, and vendors. Defines execution approach, develops integrated schedules, manages scope and budget, ensures adherence to methodology, and drives day to day execution to achieve measurable outcomes.

25%    Facilitates coordination between business units, IT, vendors, and analysts to ensure technical requirements, integrations, dependencies, and constraints are understood and addressed. Leads detailed working sessions, technical reviews, and decision forums to ensure alignment between business needs and system capabilities.

15%    Identifies, evaluates, and manages risks, issues, and interdependencies across multiple projects and systems. Develops mitigation strategies, performs impact assessments, escalates critical items early, and ensures transparent, data-driven decision-making with leaders and stakeholders.

10%    Provides clear, concise, executive ready communication, including dashboards, status summaries, risk profiles, and program updates. Facilitates decision making sessions and ensures leadership is informed of project progress, challenges, and required actions.

10%    Mentors Project Managers and Technical Business Analysts; provides feedback on documentation, execution practices, and communication quality. Contributes to improving standards, templates, workflows, reporting structures, and tools to increase project delivery maturity across the organization.

5%    Partners with Finance and Risk Management to develop budgets, track forecasts, manage SOWs, and oversee vendor delivery performance. Holds vendors accountable for outcomes, escalates deficiencies, and ensures contractual compliance within projects.

5%    Performs other job related duties as assigned.

Performance Measurements:

1.    Strategic Delivery: Enterprise critical initiatives are delivered on time, within budget, and within scope, with documented benefits realization and minimal production disruption.

2.    Executive Engagement: ELT and key stakeholders receive timely, decision-ready updates; issues and risks are escalated early with clear options and recommendations.

3.    Portfolio Effectiveness: Interdependencies and resource/contention risks are identified early and reduced through proactive planning; cross-team cycle times improve relative to the baseline.

4.    Team Leadership: Provides high-quality mentorship, elevates the performance of Project Managers/Analysts, and fosters a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

5.    Technical Execution: Complex, multi-system implementations (e.g., core, digital channels, integrations) are sequenced and delivered with strong UAT readiness and cutover plans.

6.    Vendor Performance: Third-party providers meet contractual obligations and SLAs; performance issues are addressed with corrective actions and measurable outcomes.

7.    Reporting Quality: Portfolio and project status are accurately maintained in the prescribed PM tools and repositories; dashboards and reports are complete, accurate, and timely.

8.    Compliance & Policy Adherence: Complies with all applicable rules, regulations, procedures, and policies, including but not limited to BSA, OFAC, and Physical Security.

Knowledge and Skills:

Experience    5'7 years of project management experience, including leading high-risk, multi-stakeholder technical projects; financial services or other regulated industries preferred. Demonstrated success delivering multi'system implementations and integrations; experience coordinating across business units, IT, vendors, and analysts. Symitar Core and related systems experience preferred (or equivalent core banking environment).

Education    (1) A bachelor's degree is strongly preferred.

(2) PMP is required.

(3) IT-Focused Certifications preferred. Preferably related to ITIL, Azure, or AI/ML fundamentals.

Interpersonal Skills    Executive-level communication and facilitation; able to influence without authority across departments. Advanced conflict resolution in high-stakes environments; skilled at guiding data-driven decisions and balancing business/technical tradeoffs. Strong analytical, technical, and organizational skills; exceptional documentation and presentation abilities. Demonstrates analytical, technical, and organizational skills. Must have excellent documentation and verbal and written communication/presentation skills. The ability to manage many activities and assignments, recognize when prioritization may be needed, and escalate appropriately.

Other Skills    Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Project, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Power BI; accustomed to portfolio and project management in Jira or MS Project.

Familiarity with software implementation lifecycles, configuration management, QA/UAT practices, and technical documentation; able to translate between business and technical stakeholders.

Financial acumen (budgeting, forecasting, cost/benefit, ROI modeling) and vendor/SOW management.

Physical Requirements    This role requires sitting at a computer for most of the day. This role would also need the ability to file files, open filing cabinets, and bend or stand as necessary. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential function.

Work Environment    The position is based in-office in our Pensacola, Florida market, operates primarily in an office setting, and routinely uses standard office equipment, including computers, printers, and phones. This position requires consistent in-office presence to collaborate with team members and fulfill job responsibilities effectively. It requires actively participating in conference calls and meetings with other Credit Union team members and vendors. The standard expected work schedule is Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. After-hours work or travel is required to meet project deadlines or attend conferences, seminars, or meetings. Must adhere to safety rules and regulations.